Gift With Purchase: Preservation with Camille Lowe

Camille Lowe thought she'd stay on the West Coast when she left Georgia after college. Not only did Serenbe draw her back, she was inspired by the place and people to get involved in determining its future, and is now our city council representative for Chattahoochee Hills. In this episode, we talk with our neighbor Camille about the gift of nature homebuyers get when they move here, her favorite time of day to explore Serenbe, and the city's future. Camille was raised in Macon, Georgia, attended the University of Georgia where she received a BBA in Risk Management/Insurance, and was a four-year starter for the UGA Women’s Basketball Team. Her 20-year career in biopharmaceuticals has involved a lot of travel, working from a home base on the west coast, then back to the Atlanta area. Prior to moving into sales, Camille was an Account Executive for Marsh in San Francisco, CA, a global leader in insurance and risk management. Camille moved to Serenbe in 2015 as she looked for a place she could enjoy her love of nature and connect with community in a place that is beautiful, healthy, and environmentally sensitive, and currently serves as Chattahoochee Hills City Council Member for District 4.

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Transcript

Hey guys, it's Monica here. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast that I've started with my very good friend, Jennifer Walsh called Biophilic Solutions. Our last season of Serenbe Stories, building a biophilic movement was so popular that we decided to dedicate an entire podcast to it every other week. Jennifer and I will sit down with leaders in the growing field of biophilia. We'll talk about local and global solutions to help nurture the living social and economic systems that we all need to sustain future generations more often than not. Nature has the answers. You can find biophilic solutions on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and follow us today. So you don't miss an episode. Alright, now let's go back to Serenbe Stories. 

Monica (2s): 
Camille thought she’d stay on the West Coast. When she left Georgia after college, not only did Serenbe draw her back in, she was inspired by the place and people to get involved in determining its future and is now our city council representative for Chattahoochee Hills. In this episode, we talk with our neighbor, Camille, about the gift of nature homebuyers get when they move here, her favorite time of the day to explore Serenbe, and the city’s future. 

Camille (26s): 
But the biggest thing I can say is there’s always someone that’s around. I feel like that if you need something or just want to visit with somebody, people are here, not going to be closed down, but it really feels like an open, you know, open door. 

Monica (46s): 
Well, welcome everybody back to Serenbe Stories. As everybody knows this season, we are talking to our residents and of course we have Steve Nygren here as usual. Hi Steve. 

Steve (55s):
Hello Monica. 

Monica: 
And, we have my neighbor down the street. Camille Lowe. Hi Camille. 

Steve: 
Hey Camille. 

Camille: 
Hello. Thanks for having me.

Monica: 
Yeah, we're so glad you could find the time. What are you up to today?

Camille: 
Oh, a little mixed bag. A little bit of my day job. A couple of work, you know, city emails, I don't know, live in life. I'm actually in Serenbe, which is nice, sort of that work from home day. Steve: So share with everyone. What is your day job? And then when you refer to the city, what's that all about?

Camille (1m 28s): 
Yes. Okay. So I work for a pharmaceutical company out of Boston, Massachusetts, and I'm in sales. So I've been doing this now, since I've been back in Atlanta. So, which is, was 2009 in the Atlanta area. And so I'm in sales. So I'm usually out and about, we're just starting to do some of that. Most of the state has been in the red category, so we haven't been able to work at the hospitals, but now we're slowly moving into phase two of that. So yeah, that's what I've been, you know, trying. I mean, I look at that map every Friday and I'm like, where can I go come Monday? And it's really all over the place it's changing daily almost. 

Monica (2m 11s):
Is your territory all of Georgia? Or? 

Camille (2m 15s):
No, I, you know, intentionally have sort of moved into a role where I can have only like a third of the state. 

Monica: 
Nice. 

Camille: 
I did use, I didn't do that in the past, but I've done that. So it allows for other things. So the second piece of that question is, yeah. So as far as the city goes back last, I think it was October 6th or so. I was sworn in to the city council for the district for which encompasses Serenbe. And so that's what’s been about a little over four months now, seems longer. Maybe COVID, I don't know.

Camille (2m 54s): 
I don't know. And, but it, it, you know, I haven't been able to get out, meet people like traditionally, you know, you originally envisioned that happening. So that's where I'm, I missed that a little.

Monica (3m 6s): 
I know, I know. I feel like in a couple of months, we're all going to have the best scene and be able to get out and about a little bit more, but Camille, you, or were you originally from the west coast, but you're, you're originally from the south, but because you went to UGA, right?

Camille: 
Yes. Yeah. I'm from Macon, Georgia. I grew up there and then I went to UGA and then left immediately, like right after graduation and headed to California. 

Monica: 
Okay. That's right. 

Camille: 
Yeah, I was out there 15 years and then came back. so…

Monica: 
I love it. 

Camille: 
Yeah.

Monica (3m 41s): 
Tell us what you did at UGA besides, emphasize, what you studied. Tell us what you did because you were kind of an all-star.

Camille:
Yeah, I, you know, that was my childhood passion was playing sports and I never dreamed it would, you know, I would end up with a scholarship. But yeah, I do remember. And when I was really young, someone's saying “You'll never make it.”....Yeah. 

Monica: 
I hate that. 

Camille (4m 9s): 
No, no. An adult told me that and I was really hurt—-

Monica: 
That’s terrible!

Camille: 
Well, you know, I kind of thought about that and I was like, well, Hmm. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see, I didn't really get me down. I just, it was actually sort of a challenge. Right. And ultimately, yeah, I ended up with a scholarship with my twin sister and we both decided to go to school together.

Monica (4m 28s): 
Oh, I didn't know that. 

Camille: 
Yeah and so…

Monica: 
Okay, did she play basketball too?

Camille: 
Mhm.

Monica: 
Okay!

Camille: 
So, you know, She’s kind of a built-in friend, right?

Monica: 
Mhm, that’s fantastic. When you played all four years—-

Camille: 
Mhm. 

Monica: 
I mean, I think you were one of the top scores and I'm just gonna kind of brag on you a little bit. Janet Murray gave me some data points here. Right?

Camille: 
I know you can <inaudible>

Monica (4m 50s): 
I know, she gave me, she, you finished your career with 1396, 1,396 points ranking you number nine in the UGA. You know, at that point, I guess that was in 93, maybe it's pretty great.

Camille: 
Yeah. You know, and it it's, yeah, it was hard work. I have to say. I mean, everyone that's listening, I'm sure knows college sports, even high school, whatever, all of that. It's just competitive. And I know now, I watched kids now playing, it's super competitive, but it's a lifestyle, but it afforded me a lot of things. And I was able to, you know, get out of college with a lot, without a lot of debt. And that really was able, made it a little bit easier moving to California. Steve (5m 36s): And, I understand on some of the basketball games up on the basketball court, you give the guys a good run. 

Camille: 
Well, listen, they, I need to get back out. I, you know, thank goodness and Serenbe we have. Right. I've been doing yoga. I've learned as I've just turned 50 last year into the year. And I realized, you know, flexibility is key now, even with that sport. So no, but I enjoy that. I try to stay active. Yeah. 

Monica (6m 7s): 
Yeah, yeah. There's some good tickets games up there. They've tried to talk me into it, but I think they would be sadly disappointed in my inability.

Camille: 
They don't let up on me if I play. Let me tell ya. 

Monica: 
No, I think that's a lot of fun. So one of the things we ask is how did you discover Serenbe? Because you know, we're saying, you know, the residents were the best source of information. Like how'd you find it? And like, why didn't you move here? Like what sort of compelled you when you came back to Georgia to sort of stumble upon us and become our neighbor?

Camille (6m 42s): 
Yeah. I know it's kinda it, you know, a lot of different from a lot of different angles. And back then, so I was in Atlanta, moved around a bunch of places. Never really landed kind of what I felt like I could make home, feeling I was looking for. And so I was just looking to get out of the city somewhere. But south of the traffic, a lot of people want to go north and I'm like, oh gosh, I got family in Macon. That is going to be tough. So, you know, at the time I was, I was the person I was dating, really had horses and was looking for places to go and stumbled upon this.

Camille (7m 25s): 
Probably just kind of researching and being from Atlanta, I had heard about it. And then suddenly I had a work friend out of North Carolina that sent me a message. She goes, “Maybe you should check this out. I have been wanting to live here from, I will live there when I retired.” I'm like, “Where?” She lives in, she's fabulous. And she sent me and it is, so, those—those two things were happening at the same time. Right. And that is, kind of thing came down, I thought Serenbe real estate didn’t take too long. Yeah, it was fun. 

Monica (7m 56s): 
Yeah. There's, there's a lot of like, you know, people show up and they walk away with a house or then there's sort of the five-year program where people are like, not quite sure it takes them a little bit. They keep coming down. And so you moved down here, I think in December in 2015. So it's been almost six years, right? 

Camille: 
Right. Yeah. So it was the summer of 2014. I think there was like, I can't remember, but around the nest, they were having sort of an outing right out front. People were on the builders and Steve, it was there. It was just sort of fun. It was like standing out there going, whoa, this is—-

Monica: 
Yep.

Camille: 
Yeah …so 

Monica: 
It’s like a Block Party. 

Camille: 
Yeah. And after that, yeah. It didn't take long. 

Monica (8m 33s): 
No, exactly. So when you moved, did you have any idea or any aspirations that you were going to run for city government? 

Camille: 
No, I didn't. You know, at that point in time, I didn't, I wasn't thinking about that now. I, what I was thinking about was how to be, how am I going to live this next phase of life? Like, what am I going to do to just be there and live there? Or actually be active, like I've always wanted to be, but not my place. So that's sort of what I thought about.

Monica (9m 9s): 
And how has it been? Four months in. 

Camille: 
Yeah, no, it's gosh.

Monica: 
Hey, you're only going to have to be able to say good things cause it's, you know…  
Camille: 
I know, well, you know, just learn, first of all, it's always, I've been taken the time, honestly, to kind of read, talk to a lot of people about how the city came to be. And I get the question just from friends, you know, they're like, “Oh, what's that? Where's that?” You know? And it makes you think like 2007 and then Steve's work and everyone that was living down here. And the fact that, I mean, what it's hard to imagine, is it, what, 3,500, 3,300 people, something like that now. So we're not that large. And then the open space piece, it just looks different. There's no doubt about it when you drive in, you know, especially if you come through union city.

Camille (10m 4s): 
And so yeah—

Monica: 
It's a contrast. 

Camille:
The Parkway suddenly changes. 

Monica: 
Yeah. 

Camille: 
And so I feel like, I don't know, I just kinda got involved and to, to understanding that and knowing the history then, so to make better decisions and good decisions moving forward. You know? And it's just this really small group of people that have been so many volunteers and put so many hours and effort into, and that's what I try to tell my friends. Y'all, don't get it. Most of these posts aren't paid to do all this work. They're just doing it. Cause they came here.

Monica: 
Yeah. 

Camille: 
So…

Monica (10m 47s): 
Tell us a little bit about city council, how many people are on it? Like, how's it broken up? So just for the listener, you know, the city itself is about 40,000 acres. We have a very rural 33-ish hundred people. I don't know if we've gotten any numbers back. We're still waiting on the 2020 census. But tell us a little bit about it. Like, you know, how do you explain it to your friends? It's so different.

Camille (11m 10s): 
Yeah, you know, explain it’s not, we don't have a huge budget, right? Compared to a lot of cities, I don't know what cities are around. They might compare two sides where I was like a Hiram near the airport or something, but five council members, you know, we have our mayor, Tom Murray that lives here as well, and then five districts. And they try to split those up based on population, which could, you know, obviously with the census that may look next year, whenever that, those numbers come out and we, of course, we have our city services, our police fire, and then we have our community brick works, which supports our library.

Monica: 
Yeah. 

Camille (11m 56s): 
And, and you know, city manager. So I sort of go through the city manager to, to try and talk to folks because, and then, you know, the development team, they're just busy. I mean, it is we've, I mean, it's interesting to look at how it all works because we sort of let those folks work a lot of hours on the staff. But I wouldn't say there's like city 60 staff total, if you added everyone up, maybe something like that. 

Monica (12m 26s): 
Yeah. Well, and it's like, we've been able, the city, you know, down here, we now have right? Our fire and police by forming a city. So it was a really important move back in 2007 before we were just an unincorporated portion of Fulton county. And I named Steve, if you want to, like, talk about, like, the original vision of it. And then it's kind of interesting, Camille, if you can tell us like, you know, cause obviously things, more things change, you know, new ideas come in, like what is the, you know, how has that been held that vision? And then where is it going?

Steve (13m 1s): 
Yeah. I mean, this was a really crazy, but progressive idea 20 years ago. And this entire process that led to the city started with really worrying about urban sprawl, destroying this beautiful rural area. The area was only known as south Fulton county or Rico. If, if, if press or somebody referred to, they would show up at the general store to talk to somebody. And there were, and there was no real sense. The community was organized around the various old church communities throughout the area. And so we looked at the 40,000 acres in the tip of south Fulton county and there were 500 landowners.

Steve (13m 46s): 
And so we had a two year process that brought that group together to really decide what our destiny was rather than wait for development to happen and react to what we didn't want. And that's a whole story into itself. And I think we had that on, in one of our Serenbe Stories that did that shares that, but that led to the largest rezoning and overlay district in Metro Atlanta in recent history in 2002, we changed state law in 2003 for transfer development rights. And then Serenbe was the first to break ground under these new regulations in 2004. We had so inspired the population here to control their own destiny, that there was a real desire to become our own city.

Steve (14m 39s): 
And so we healed to the state legislature. We were granted the right to have a vote in 2006 and that passed pretty unanimously. I think something like 80% positive. And so we really launched to be our own city in 2007. So that gives you a real quick history role as to where, as to where it is. And so we've been able to really, you know, maintain all those services on a local basis with local people, making decisions on, on planning and zoning and you know, a local council and mayor and all those things, which makes it very personal, even though it was 40,000 acres, it's more like a county, but with communities which Serenbe is, is that developed area.

Monica (15m 28s): 
Well, and you, and as a resident, you know, the fire chief and, you know, the police officers and, you know, the city manager and, you know, obviously the, obviously all the meetings are open if you want to go to this too. But I think that's been really lovely is that you, it, it really is a true community, which is, it feels very rare these days.

Steve (15m 9s): 
And, and to put things in perspective, the inside of the perimeter of Atlanta is about 120,000 acres. This is 40,000 acres, basically undisturbed. Serenbe  is the only actual development that I think there's a couple other small ones now, and we've only disturbed 120 acres, so it shows how density will lead to preservation of the greater area where 70% will be preserved when we're totally built out.

Monica (16m 25s): 
Yeah, yeah. Camille, what are you seeing as far as, like, economic interest in growth or, you know, what kind of decisions are you guys having people approach you or what's going on at the city these days? I mean, I know there's always sort of like small decisions to be made, you know, whether that's like a liquor license or certain permits, but what are sort of the big picture conversations that are happening, whether that's happening now or kind of more vision?

Camille (16m 54s):
Yeah. Well, I think like one of the just detailed pieces with the zoning, I think we're always looking at that. And I think right now they're in process of making sure when we were making some changes to that, but really to make sure that the language supports what Steve was talking about, you know, the preservation piece in particular. And I always like to tell people, that's kind of like when you move down here, that’s a gift with purchase. 

Monica: 
And I love that.

Camille: 
You know? You know, all of a sudden go walk on, you know, including Copper Mill Park. So a lot fast forward. So I guess, you know, a lot of what we're talking about is like the, the parks was a big part of the new boat ramp and that planning really opening up the Chattahoochee river, hopefully, which I think also will need, you know, you have to get some private landowners involved, but to really increase the outdoor experience when you come down here. 

Steve (17m 58s): 
And so for those listening, Cochrane Mill Park, is that what? Is it seven or 800 acres? I think it’s, and, and the visitation is from all over, isn’t it? Don’t you all get records on that?

Camille (18m 12s): 
We do, South about 20 is like the busiest, and we really, I mean, we can tell by the parking, right? Like if you live in Chattahoochee Hills, it costs nothing to park over there. It’s free to park. So we can tell when we have visitors cuz we have, you know, the parking for the weekend or whatnot, and we actually are. And one of the things we’re talking about is some sort of, you know, hut there when you enter. Something like that to kind of manage it now that we haven’t a lot of visitors, but it’s beautiful. Yeah. 

Monica: 
So stunning. 

Steve (18m 52s): 
And  then we have the smaller Hutcheson Ferry Park, which is a beautiful, peaceful little park. 

Monica: 
Yep. 

Steve: 
And then of course their ball field, you know, for our own city. And then as Camille said, we're, we're, we're, we have just opened a boat ramp on the Chattahoochee river and working on now a park and in partnership with the river lands project, with Trust Republic Land, and the Atlanta Regional Commission, which, which has the potential to be really a, a major park, which will also have a boat ramp. And then one of the exciting things, you know, you know, with Campbellton in this study to, to kind of restore the historic village of Campbellton on the banks of the Chattahoochee.

Monica (19m 37s): 
Oh, tell me about that. 

Camille: 
Yeah. You know, for the people listening, there were like five commissions at the city, one being the historic commission. Right? And we had the planning commission, it will be a new art commission, potentially, CRE, one more. It's not coming to me, but… parks commission. So those folks or all work. But I, I think like Steve was saying the important piece to making sure that, you know, we manage all of that because you can just have explosive growth and sort of, kind of run over everything, right? And not pay attention to some of the things that even like there's an archeologist on the historic commission, right?

Camille (20m 23s): 
Like, what's in the ground nearby. Important to the history here, you know, not to follow that and move too quickly. 

Monica: 
Right. 

Camille: 
So I'd love that we have those folks who are activated in care.

Monica (20m 34s): 
Yeah. That sounds super cool. The Campbellton historical. There, you said there's some buildings there, Steve that are on the river. And… 

Steve (20m 40s): 
Well, Campbell was the county seat of Campbell County, which was this entire area of South Fulton, then during the great depression is when both Campbell and Milton counties went bankrupt and that’s when they incorporated into Fulton County, making it an 80 mile long county. 

Monica: 
Oh, interesting. 

Steve: 
And—-

Monica: 
That makes sense now. 

Steve (21m 4s): 
And then when the rail went further East than the river, everyone from the little river communities moved to the rail. And so it was basically a deserted town and over the years, most of the buildings have fallen down, but you can still see the grid of the old town.

Steve (21m 24s): 
And there are, you know, the Sonic Hall is still standing and two churches. And so there's the remnants of that old town. And so now working with ARC and our neighboring city of South Fulton, there's been a real study to master plan how this could be redeveloped on the historic pattern and mapping of the old Campbell county or city of Campbell.

Monica: 
Oh, cool. Are there other, you know, other things that are coming? Or anything that sort of happening? Or do we have plans for more parks? Or? 

Camille (22m 5s): 
Yeah, yeah. There’s one, another, they’re, I’m looking at a little bit further down the Chattahoochee river, so it would be potentially another boat ramp so that we can remove, you know, get it, put whatever you're on a kayak.

Monica: 
Put in, put out. Yeah. 

Camille: 
Yeah, and do all of that. I just had a meeting with the Urban Land Institute and they were talking about Rico. Yeah. I know they reached out to a lot of people in the community that Rico planning, creating a master plan there, just similar to Campbellton Park. So, you know, what I've seen is just as far as development goes as well, you'd ask that question and farm is sort of on the front end of that with city manager, they get a lot of, I noticed people that are interested, but on, I mean, the way I see it, you know, obviously serum is the anchor to all of that, right? 

Camille (22m 58s): 
And, and has just the way that our city has operated in be that people are interested in coming here potentially, we've, you know, we've seen symbols annexations into Chat Hills, but I think it's just desirable and things are, you know, things are moving quickly. I think there's definitely an opportunity. 

Monica (23m 23s): 
Yeah. Definitely. One of the things I'm always curious about is besides basketball, you know, what are you doing in sort of your off time when you're just sort of wandering around? Like, what are some of your like favorite things about Serenbe or maybe the thing that surprised you most? I mean, I love your idea of preservation as a gift with purchase. I might steal from you. That's really great. But like what, what kind of things that sort of have surprised you over the years as you've lived here that you maybe weren't expecting? 

Camille (23m 53s): 
Well, you know, it's interesting. I was so used to people being from all over when I lived in San Francisco. And now that I'm here down in Serenbe, I don't really notice that people really have come from all over here and experienced, you know, and I think they've noticed that it's a gym in itself. Yeah. Maybe they've come here for, for a wedding or to visit a friend or heard about it. And so that's kind of what amazes me. I'm like, I'm in the middle of Georgia, which when I grew up, everybody was from Macon. And so that, that's great. And it's just so many people with so many great backgrounds, the diversity here, you know, small business owners, you know, I love it.

Camille (24m 42s): 
Steve and his family are here that just such a nice community kind of ties everything together and people, you know, the great thing is, you know, we're developed that the development is growing and some people, you know, in some people's minds, it's kind of annoying. And you're like, but the good news is it's bringing new people in. At the city, you know, we do need, you know, property taxes. <inaudible>

Monica: 
And new-new businesses have been coming in. 

Camille (25m 15s): 
Yeah. And that's fine. So I, I use, I like, I've never, you know, I never had tried yoga. You'd think living in California, it would have been in the top five. And I got here and I can't remember if it was hot. Might've been, Garney talked to me and somebody was like, you just got to come try it. And I did. And so now I'm kind of hooked on that when I, yeah. I just, I just love it, all that. There's so many things I haven't played pickleball yet, but there's that. 

Monica: 
Yeah that. We just restripe the courts. I got, I got to go up, we have all of our equipment. We keep trying to go up on the weekends and it's been busy.

Camille (25m 55s): 
But the biggest thing I can say is there's always someone that's around. I feel like that if you need something or you just want to visit with somebody, people are here, not going to be closed down, but it really feels like an open, you know, open door. Really great. 

Monica (26m 14s): 
We always, Jeff, my husband and I, we always feel like winter, even though, you know, you can get outside and we do, it feels a little more shut down just because it's cold, I guess. And we're also California kids. So maybe we're kind of wimps, but we walked, I think it was yesterday day before. And I was like, oh, do you want to take the trails, you know, to cut through? And he's like, “No, no, I want to be on the street.” And he's an introvert, right? But he wanted to be on the street because he wanted to see people he wanted to like, have this chance collisions, you know, do you find that there is something that you never expected? Maybe a better question is, you know, is there something that you want to share with the listeners that sort of like your favorite place? Or sort of a secret something Steve told us about a secret place that I had no idea about. And I don't even know where it is last week that he can share with you in a second.

Camille (27m 11s): 
Oh, I guess we all do, sort of. 

Monica: 
Yeah, maybe you don't wanna share, you don’t want to tell anybody. 

Camille (27m 13s): 
No, no, no. Now, you know, there's so many people outdoors. It's not, it's really hard if typically I like just like a night person. I love evenings and it gets quiet. And I love to walk. I always walk. I live on the pond and I walked down behind the dam and there used to be a little secret garden back there. And there's a bridge and you can sort of take two paths and I just go down there at night, sometimes and walk, really, it's just quiet, you know? Over the owls. 

Monica: 
Oh my God. The owls. Amazing.

Camille (27m 57s): 
But it's too far down there. One point of time, I don’t know, I just find to me and you, you get down in the trees, you know, and I don't know. And then you kind of, and I'll sort of make my way and turn back up, but not stay long. But I love to do that at night when it's dark. It’s fun. I always wear a headlamp. If you see someone with a headlamp, it's probably me. 

Steve (28m 16s): 
You know, and, and in the find, if there’s any kind of a moon at all, it reflects on the gravel that we have in a lot of our paths, and you can really see pretty well once you kind of adjust to the night. 

Camille (28m 30s): 
And a lot of that I realize Steve when you put in place, is not having, you know, floodlights on every house and things, you know, just, gosh, what a huge difference. I mean, you know, light pollution can just drives me crazy. So that's, it's just a lovely,

Steve (28m 53s): 
I always get tickled. When I'm narrow the restaurants as people are exiting and many of them are standing in the street looking up and I realized everyone visiting from the city, seeing stars is a unique experience. You’ll see the whole group of people just standing out in the middle of the street, looking up at the sky.

Monica (29m 12s): 
Yeah. It really is spectacular. 

Camille (29m 15s): 
Yeah. So I really noticed that. I really noticed that and I get off and people give me a hard time. You are so dark down there. I'm like, yes, I am. For every reason. Yeah.

Monica: 
I know. 

Camille: 
You got it.

Monica (29m 11s): 
Exactly. I think again, it's something that we're not, but you know, if you're living in the city, you're just not used to it. You're used to this, what of lights, but the dark is amazing as long, you know, you just have to get kind of comfortable with the idea.

Camile: 
Yeah, definitely. 

Monica: 
Anything else you want to share with us, Camille, like any other fun tidbits or things your favorite neighborhood of course is Grange, which is where we live, right? Or maybe you can't take sides anymore with city council.

Camille (29m 50s): 
I know, right.  You know, I think I, what I think I could leave it with, you know, I, when I moved here, I knew Serenbe, but now I'm starting really to get to know Chattahoochee Hills. And I just really feel like there's so much to offer that I think is gonna make living here just 10 times better, right? With take advantage. And I'm like, often just get out, you know, you can get out of here, go down to a park, go to the river, you know, new developments, maybe in the future. But I feel like we're on a, we're on a good path. And we just need to just, you know, watch how that development and everything happens. The zoning takes care of a lot of that. 

Camille (30m 40s): 
But this is a great area for bicycle folks because it's known as the silk sheets. And then the path foundation actually did our feasibility study of 96 miles connecting everything. And we have little segments of that in the, that'd be great when all that's connected and you can be off the roads, whether hiking or cycling through this entire area. 

Camille: 
Yeah. 

Monica: 
Yeah. That would be fun to share. I don't know if we have a master plan of that. That's a—--

Steve: 
Yeah, we do. 

Camille: 
Yeah.

Steve (31m 13s): 
We'll put that up. 

Monica: 
Yeah

Camille: 
Yeah. Hopefully wayfinding signs are on the way I think we meet about on, this week. Actually. I think they're on our agenda to sort of, I mean, cause that's been going on what, since 2013 or so…

Steve:
Yes. 

Monica:
Why is it a little slow? 

Camille (31m 29s):
Yeah, but people will know where they are. 

Monica:
Exactly. 

Camille:
Hey. 

Monica:
Yeah. That is the one thing we’re like the big bell buckle that says Serenbe, but we need a few other ways of finding it for us. Yes.

Camille:
I think–I think they’re simple. They should be simple. Yeah.

Monica (31m 45s):
Yeah. That'd be great. Well, Camille, thank you so much. This has been great. And we'll put up all this information on the show notes and I'm gonna look up, look up at the stars and I'll look for you in the woods at night.

Steve (32m 0s):
And thanks for chatting with us. Thanks for choosing Serenbe these many years ago, and thanks for offering yourself as service to the city council. I, I really appreciate people that will step forward cuz I know it’s not always easy, and you have diverse opinions, And so I really appreciate you doing that. 

Monica:
Yep, thanks Camille. 

Camille:
Thank you all.

Monica (32m 22s): 
Thank you for listening to Serenbe Stories, new episodes are available on Mondays. Please subscribe and leave us a review and visit our website to learn more about guests, episodes, and everything Serenbe at serenbestories.com. This episode is supported by the Inn at Serenbe. Nestled in the rolling countryside of a bucolic Serenbe where guests can walk on the 15 miles of trails through preserved forest land, the wildflower meadow, and the animal village. Relax at the pool, hot tub, or in the rocking chairs on a wraparound porch. Play on the croquet lawn, grab a canoe, or jump on the Inn Ground trampoline. Connect with nature and each other all while staying in a luxurious space at the Inn at Serenbe. Book your stay today at serenbeinn.com. S-E-R-E-N-B-E-I-N-N.com.